5
AudiGabriel Bortoleto is a Brazilian Formula One driver racing for the Audi F1 Team. He won the FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2 championships in consecutive rookie seasons in 2023 and 2024, placing him in the same rare company as Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, and George Russell. He made his F1 debut in 2025 with Sauber and is the first Brazilian driver to compete in Formula One full-time since Felipe Massa in 2017.
He is 21 years old and has already won everything below Formula One.
| Full name | Gabriel Lourenzo Bortoleto Oliveira |
| Date of birth | 14 October 2004 |
| Birthplace | Osasco, Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Height | 170cm |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Nickname | Gabi |
| Current team | Audi F1 Team |
| Car number | #5 |
| Manager | Fernando Alonso (A14 Management) |
| Partner | Isabella Bernardini |
Bortoleto was born into a family with deep roots in Brazilian motorsport. His father Lincoln Oliveira is CEO and co-owner of the Stock Car Pro Series, Brazil's premier touring car championship. Racing was not a distant aspiration in the Bortoleto household. It was the family industry.
Growing up in Osasco on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Bortoleto began karting in late 2011 and entered his first competitive series in 2012. His hero from the beginning was Ayrton Senna. At eleven years old, he made the decision to follow in Senna's footsteps in the most literal sense available to him: he left Brazil for Europe to pursue a karting career at the level where it mattered. It was a significant commitment for a child and his family, but the results would justify it.
Bortoleto progressed steadily through European karting across eight years. His strongest year was 2018, when he finished third in both the European and World Championships in the OK-Junior category and was vice-champion in the WSK Super Master Series and the Andrea Margutti Trophy. By 2019 he was ready for cars.
Bortoleto made his single-seater debut in the 2020 Italian F4 Championship with Prema, one of the sport's most respected junior teams. He took five podiums including a win at Mugello, his first single-seater victory. He finished fifth in the championship. His Prema teammates that season included Sebastián Montoya, Gabriele Mini, and Dino Beganovic, all of whom would go on to reach or contest F1 seats.
Bortoleto spent two seasons in the Formula Regional European Championship. In 2021 he raced with FA Racing, the junior team operated by Fernando Alonso's management company, finishing fifteenth. The partnership with Alonso's organisation deepened from here. In 2022 with R-ace GP he was more competitive, taking wins at Spa and Barcelona to finish sixth in the championship. The performances were enough to attract serious attention.
At the end of 2022, Alonso signed him to A14 Management. The relationship was already more than a business arrangement: Alonso had been watching him develop since the FA Racing season.
Bortoleto stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2023 with Trident as a rookie and won the title by 45 points over second-placed Zak O'Sullivan. He won twice and scored six podiums, leading the championship from the early rounds and never relinquishing it. It was the first of two consecutive rookie titles and earned him a place in the McLaren Driver Development Programme at the end of the year.
Backed by McLaren, Bortoleto entered FIA Formula 2 in 2024 with Invicta Racing as a first-year driver. He became the seventh driver in history to win the GP2 or Formula 2 championship in their rookie season, defeating Isack Hadjar in a title battle that went to the final round. Hadjar stalled on the grid in the deciding race. Bortoleto finished second, which was enough.
The title was secured on merit across the season, but one race defined the year.
In the 2024 Monza F2 Feature Race, Bortoleto qualified last after a spin in qualifying left him without a competitive lap time. He started twenty-second. He won the race.
By lap five he had worked his way to fourteenth. He stayed on track as other drivers on soft tyres pitted early, inherited the lead, then used a late safety car to take a strategic pit stop and rejoin in sixth. From there he passed everyone in front of him and crossed the line first. It was the first time in the history of either GP2 or Formula 2 that a driver had won from last on the grid. Teams and paddock observers described it as one of the finest drives seen in the junior series in years.
Sauber confirmed Bortoleto as a race driver in November 2024, releasing him from the McLaren programme to take the seat. He partnered Nico Hulkenberg, replacing Valtteri Bottas. The team was mid-transition toward becoming an Audi factory outfit in 2026. The car was not competitive.
His debut at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix ended in retirement after a crash in changing wet conditions. It was not the start anyone wanted, but wet-condition chaos had caught more experienced drivers in the same race. He steadied quickly.
His first F1 points came at the Austrian Grand Prix with eighth place, the start of a productive mid-season run that also produced points finishes at the British, Hungarian, and Belgian Grands Prix. Sauber engineers noted his analytical approach and strong work ethic as immediate strengths.
The Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint brought the most alarming moment of his season. A collision at 339kph sent his car into a massive accident. He was uninjured and returned to race. He ended the year nineteenth in the championship with 19 points in an underpowered car, with consecutive fifth-place finishes at Brazil and Las Vegas in the final rounds providing the strongest note of the season.
One other detail from 2025 worth noting: a Brazilian podcast revealed a genuine friendship between Bortoleto and Max Verstappen, described by those around them as unexpected but entirely real. No editorial profile had mentioned it.
Sauber completed its transition to the Audi F1 Team for 2026, with full factory backing, new technical resources, and a reset grid under the new regulations. Bortoleto enters his second F1 season at 21, partnering Hulkenberg again, with the backing of a manufacturer rather than a midfield customer team.
He is managed by Fernando Alonso, who won his own first world championship at 24. The parallels are not lost on either of them.
Bortoleto has been in a relationship with Isabella Bernardini since their teenage years in Brazil. She is a computer science student specialising in cybersecurity. He maintains a relatively private personal life given his public profile.
His childhood heroes were Ayrton Senna, Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen, a list that now includes his manager and a genuine friend. In November 2025 he launched a clothing collection with Brazilian brand Barthelemy, incorporating design references from his Trident, Invicta, and Sauber racing years.
He holds Brazilian nationality and has spoken about the weight and privilege of representing a country with Senna's motorsport legacy in Formula One.
| Year | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Italian F4 | Prema | 20 | 1 | 5 | — | 5th |
| 2021 | FREC | FA Racing / MP | 30 | 0 | 2 | — | 15th |
| 2022 | FREC | R-ace GP | 30 | 2 | — | — | 6th |
| 2023 | FIA F3 | Trident | 18 | 2 | 6 | — | 1st |
| 2024 | FIA F2 | Invicta | 28 | — | — | — | 1st |
| 2025 | F1 | Sauber | 24 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 19th |
| 2026 | F1 | Audi | — | — | — | — | In progress |
F1 career totals: 0 wins, 0 podiums, 24 race starts
Last updated March 2026
